Anyone considering a home based import-export business, or even a small scale operation from leased premises, must consider the problem of losing their inventory in transit. Since the 1960s, more and more cargo has been transported across the oceans of the world in shipping containers, or connexes. These steel boxes are 8 feet wide and 8 feet high and either 20 or 40 feet long. The standardization of the sizes and the ease of stowage, on and off loading and road or rail transportation to and from the ports has revolutionized loose cargo carriage.
While containerization has made importing and exporting more affordable by keeping the costs and time involved to a minimum, like any business and especially one that requires an ocean transit, import-export has its share of risk. While you can insure against the monetary value of the loss, insurance doesn't immediately replace the inventory which can have ongoing and ever growing repercussions.
So why are containers lost overboard? First of all up to two thirds of the ship's cargo in containers is often carried on deck. Traditionally there are lower charges for deck cargo as compared to cargo in the hold. This was due to both the ease with which deck cargo could be unloaded and the greater risk of being lost overboard that it faced. The current design of container shipping has stacks of up to six containers on deck which increases the effects of the sea on the ship and makes it more difficult to handle both at sea and when docking.
The design also incorporates a low freeboard to mitigate the height effects of the stack, which makes it easier for seas to swamp the decks. Containers are held together by their integral attachment points and by external 'strapping'. As the ship pitches, rolls, heaves, sways, yaws and surges the simultaneous application of these six different forces on the ship can cause enormous stress to the fastening systems. Six container high stacks are almost the limit before the bottom containers would start to buckle under the weight but often the safety margin is not enough when the forces at work, especially in heavy weather, exceed the capabilities of the system.
Once the container has broken free and is in the water, will it sink or float? This often asked and debated question has too many variables to produce a definitive answer. Using the same formula the naval architects apply to determining the deadweight of a vessel, a 20 ft steel container should float, providing it doesn't exceed 16 tons and a 40 ft container exceed 32 tons. Of course very few containers are actually water tight and they carry up to 24 tons and 30 tons respectively unless they are overloaded which is all too common.
Containers are made to be wind and water proof, not water tight. There is a big difference, at least in nautical terms. After several years of use most containers show wear and tear due to rough handling, poor cargo packing, exposure to the elements and so forth. Even with small gaps in the seals and seams, if a floating container were to allow just 10 litres of seawater to ingress each hour, it would sink in less than two months, or 57 days to be more precise. A 40 ft container would take considerably longer, about 183 days or around six months. That is a very long time to be floating around the sea lanes, often just below the surface and posing a major hazard to navigation.
Given that same average condition though, most containers would sink a lot sooner than the times offered above. Deteriorated seals and numerous dings, dents and so on would probably accelerate the sinking, especially once the cargo loses any inherent buoyancy as it becomes water logged.
Most experts believe that compared to the 5 to 6 million containers in transit at any one time, the 2,000 or so lost overboard each year is literally, a drop in the ocean. Those figures equate to 0.005% of all containers ending up in the drink. While this is good news for the importer-exporter, his insurer and customers, it is still 2,000 too many if you are one of the unlucky sailors who run into one. Of course many small vessels are lost at sea after running into sleeping whales, uncharted rocks or wrecks and other vessels, large and small.
For the small business operator who has invested in a cargo of product from overseas or is sending their own inventory to foreign markets, they join the long line of merchants stretching back to the beginning of time. Even the early Phoenicians ran the risk of losing their cargo overboard as it sailed between Tyre and Carthage, but that didn't stop them trading and it shouldn't stop you either.
Source : ezinearticles
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